CIC fine on CBI for not giving info in Reliance case stayed

The Delhi High Court today stayed a CIC order imposing Rs 5,000 fine on the CBI for failing to give reasons for not naming Ambani brothers in a case related to alleged masking of international calls as local ones by erstwhile Reliance Infocomm. 

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw suspended the Central Information Commission's (CIC) July 25 order which had imposed the fine on CBI's Public Information Officer (PIO) also for failing to appear personally before the CIC to explain the non-compliance with its order.

While staying the CIC order on a plea by the CBI, Justice Endlaw also issued notice to information seeker PC Srivastava, seeking his response on the agency's petition by January 25, 2012.

"PIO has neither responded to the summons issued by the Commission nor provided any written explanation for not furnishing the information to the complainant in accordance with its order dated May 26, 2011," the CIC had said while imposing the penalty on the CBI PIO.

The CIC also pointed out that the CBI neither gave the requisite information by June 20, 2011, deadline not secured stay on its order by the high court. The high court, earlier, on another plea by the CBI had stayed the part of the CIC order, which asked the probe agency to disclose to Srivastava its reasons for not naming Ambani brothers in the international call masking case, despite having named several top officials of Reliance Infocomm.

The CBI had taken up the probe into the case in 2006, a year after Reliance industry was divided between the feuding siblings - Mukesh and Anil. Reliance Infocomm went to Anil was rechristened as Reliance Communications.